Empowering moderate Muslim groups

Submitted by Amjad M. Khan (United States), Apr 22, 2002

The following letter was printed in the Los Angeles Times on Saturday, January 12, 2002:

Dear Editor:

Pipes identifies correctly the one force that may effectively combat militant Islam in the world: moderate, diverse, and empowered Muslim groups ("Aim the War on Terror at Militant Islam," 1/6/02). Healthy political struggle in Muslim regimes, the way Madison envisioned it to function in America, is something that will eventually paralyze militant Islam. It is certainly in America's interest to understand the nature of credible Muslim opposition against militant Islam the way it has with the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan. As Pipes suggests, this may be the only means by which commonalities between the West and Islam may be preserved in the presence of militant Islam, rather than be destroyed by it.

Amjad M. Khan
Cambridge, Mass.

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